Problems of security in information transmission have been addressed in various ways in the prior art. Various types of encryption techniques are presently used to provide desired levels of security for information transmission and to prevent unauthorized access thereto or modification thereof
Protecting the security of documents at the time and location of their creation has not been addressed in the same manner. Generally, security of documents generated using electronic apparatus is ensured by physical security of the electronic apparatus. Thus computers or the storage media thereof are maintained in physically secure installations.
Ensuring the security of documents in environments wherein maintenance of the computers or the storage media in physically secure installations is impractical appears to be a problem still awaiting a solution.
Various techniques are known for protection of communications against unauthorized access. Scrambling and various other forms of encryption are commonly employed for this purpose. Generally, an entire file is protected in this way.
There is described in applicant/inventor's pending PCT patent application, PCT/US94/08684 an apparatus and method for creating and transmitting confidential documents, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Disclosed inter alia in this document is the encryption of only part of a document, wherein the header of the document is left unencrypted.
In computer operating systems and methods it is common for a user carrying out a first process to trigger the operation of a second process. The trigger is typically the entry of a predetermined command which can be achieved using a conventional keyboard or mouse.
Designing the trigger is relatively straightforward when the programmer has access to the first process and is allowed to make changes thereto in order to accommodate the predetermined command.
Increasingly, there are operating environments which are in extremely widespread use, but whose operating commands cannot be accessed and modified in practice by designers of such second processes. Such operating environments may include operating systems, such as WINDOWS, a trademark of Microsoft Corporation, and operating processes, such as WORD 2.0 FOR WINDOWS, a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Even when the operating commands can be accessed and modified by designers of such second processes, it is often impractical or uneconomical to do so, since such modifications would require changes such as the creation of new "macros" for each application. There may exist therefore many "non-modified" operating environments for which the present invention is particularly suited.
The present invention concerns triggers operating in non-modified operating environments for enabling a user carrying out a first process to trigger the operation of a second process.